European Exercise VII: Go Figueres!

Potato Square
Swiped from williamnyk.

Having experienced the architectural genius of Gaudi the day before, we embarked on a two-hour journey out of Barcelona to immerse ourselves in the surrealist wonder of Salvador Dalí in Figueres. JM told me that it was a must-visit and we were not disappointed with the recommendation. We took the second earliest train out of Passeig de Gracia after having a challenging time trying to understand the train schedule. The train was quite modern with wave activated doors, comfy seats and power sockets. Upon setting foot in Figueres, the first thing that hit me was the wafting smell of dung. I had thought that I had stepped on something nasty, but it finally occured to me that the odour was everywhere near the town square. :P. Being a small town and not exactly a super tourist attraction. the signs in Figueres were quite lacking. Didn't really know how to get to the Dalí Theatre and Museum. Just went in a general direction and tried to understand the directions in Catalan that the residents gave. Bumped into the same pair of P.R.C. tourists several times during our walk there. The funny thing was, they did not go into the museum after trying so hard to find it. :S.







The museum-theatre was the location of Dalí's first public exhibition and also the place where he spend the final years of his life. His body also lies in the crypt inside the building. True to his style, everything there defies usual convention. Plenty of paintings, sketches, art installations and sculptures that reveal some recurring themes such as the crutches, Mexican beans, religion, cracks, flying lines, spoons and drawers. It all comes together in his weird perception of reality. Among the highlights were the "Basket of Bread", "L'espectre del sex-appeal", "Port Alguer", the Mae West Room, "Palau del Vent" and many more. KH also had a fun time depositing his EUR1 coins into several mechanical contraptions that revealed surprising results. Being a very prolific artist, he also dabbled in furniture, jewellery, stereoscopic images and reflective art. amazingly, there was even a cartoon collaboration with Disney called "Destino". Definitely not the usual Disney family fare. The building in itself was very impressive with a giant glass dome in the center and right under it the "Cadillac plujós", literally a taxi with a raining interior. From the outside, the building looks bizarre with balancing eggs and Oscar-like statues.





Lunch was at Creperie Bretonne just a short walk from the museum. Ordered the Galette Pont Aven- basically a savoury crepe with egg, ham, leek and cream in the middle with the sides folded in. Looks a bit like a buckwheat dosai. It was served with a tomato and feta salad and concluded with a dessert crepe squeezed with lemon juice. The waitress had a hell of a time describing the items on the menu to us. Complained that she had not used English in a long, long time. The interior of the cafe was also inspired by Dalí's surrealism. And the kitchen was basically built with the facade of a bus. The cleaning area was cordoned off with a curtain of spoons. Weird stuff. After lunch, we walked down to the nearby sex shop and the staff asked us if we were eighteen. That really made my day! Didn't spend much time there, too much pussy. On the way back to the train station, it had started to rain and there was a long queue of poor tourists waiting to get into the museum. Bumped into a teenager who kept on "miaow-ing" to KH. I finally realised that he was actually trying to say "ni hao". :S.



We barely made it to the platform on time to catch the departing train. Back in Barcelona, we still had some daylight to spend so we headed to Casa Batlló, undobutedly our favourite work of Gaudi. A great showcase of his brand of Modernism. Also known as the "House of Bones" for it's skeletal outlook, the building houses many surprises. Seems that Gaudi took many pains to avoid straight lines in the design and designed many of the fixtures, windows and furnitures himself. Lots of mosaics that play well with the daylight streaming in and the attic kinda made us feel like we were walking in the skull of a whale. The roof was also impressive with his trademark chimneys and four-armed cross. He also tiled the roof to resemble the back of a dragon as a homage to St. George the Dragonslayer. After that, we sauntered off to La Pedrera, but the line was too long for us. So we just wandered around until dinner time. After A LOT of wandering, we finally sat down at Café & Té. Ordered Patatas Bravas (KH loved it!) and a platter of jamón and cheese. Washed it down with a cup of rosado and red wine. I never knew there was pink wine, I thought the waiter was joking.









The wine was really strong. Found myself walking diagonally on the way to the Metro station. On the platform, I rested my head on KH's shoulder and that immediately grabbed the attention of a guy om the next platform. I think he was asking whether we were gay. We just smiled at him and gave him a no comprendo look. Haha. With the alcohol in our blood stream what came next in our hotel room was just natural...